Prefixes, suffixes and

root words

Introduction
 Re cap...

Homophones are...

Words that sound the same but are spelt

differently. Such as;
Where + wear there + their whether +
 weather
Write down 5 sentences using the following words. Remember to
use the words in the correct context:

There/they’re/their witch/which you’re /your new/knew

no/know.. Cell/sell ring/wring
 What can you use to help you work out which
word to use?
homophones

 Know/no eye/I
 Which/witch
 Your/you’re
 Knew/new
 Berry/Bury
 Accept/except
 There/their/they’re
 Weather/whether
 Bear/bare
Examples

 Their dumplings tasted amazing with fresh

strawberries.
 I went there to buy supplies for the kitchen.
 The weather today is changeable: sunny in
the morning and raining in the afternoon.
 I was thinking whether or not to go to the
cinema or the museum
 I can’t hear you
 You shouldn’t be here
 The witch is a dangerous creature
 Where did you hear that?
 Here I am
 Today’s weather is bad
 I am going whether you like it or not
 Which one belongs to me?
 The witch changed the prince into a frog.
 I knew about it before
 You look amazing in the new dress
 I am here with you
I like my pizza plain
 There is a plane flying above my head
 I hear kids playing outside.
 I like it here
 Yesterday at the zoo, I saw a bear
 I like to walk bare foot on the soft grass
 I have one blue eye and one brown eye
 I saw a new car on my road and I knew it was
yours.
 The are cats are laying over there
 Their cat cannot swim.
Vocabulary

 Calm /palm
 Peaceful/beautiful/graceful
 Spontaneous /spontaneously
Phrasal verbs

 Take  Put

Prepositions- Up, on
over, off
 Root words
A root word is a real word and you make new words from it by adding
prefixes and suffixes.

Root words are helpful because:

You can use a root word to help you with other spellings.
If you recognise the root of a word when you are reading it can help
you to work out what the word is and what it means.
There are spelling rules for adding suffixes and prefixes to root
words.

Learning successful

Learn ing Success ful

 Suffixes

Adding suffixes to words can change or add to their meaning,

but most importantly they show how a word will be used in a
sentence and what part of speech (e.g. noun, verb, adjective)
the word belongs to.

e.g. If you want to use the root word 'talk' in the following
sentence:

I was (talk) to Samina.

You need to add the suffix 'ing' so that the word 'talk' makes
better sense grammatically:

"I was talking to Samina".

suffixes

 Activity 1:

 In pairs write down as many suffixes as you

can think of.

 You have 5 minutes!

examples  Examples
 Effortless
 Suffixes  Hopeless
 -less  Homeless
 -ful  Thankful
 Plentiful
 -ship  Playful
 -ly  Friendship
 Citizenship
 Membership
 Softly
 Suffixes  Examples
 -ing  Loving
 -able  Available, loveable
 -ness  Loveliness,
 -age  Marriage, outage,
drainage
 storage
 Salvageable
 -al
 Accidental,
musical,functional,
Suffixes with examples

Suffixes Examples
 -able Enjoyable
 -ly Badly
 -en Golden
 -ness sadness
 -less Homeless
 -er Trainer
 -ate Passionate
 -ful Playful
Suffix Example   Suffix Example
ed walk + ed = walked   ness happy + ness =
happiness

ing say + ing = saying   al accident + al =

accidental

er tall + er = taller   ary imagine + ary =

imaginary

tion educate + tion =   able accept + able =

education acceptable

sion divide + sion =   ly love + ly = lovely

division

cian music + cian =   ment excite + ment =

musician excitement

fully hope + fully =   ful help + ful +

hopefully helpful

est large + est =   y ease + y = easy

largest
Suffixes... Common errors

-less with less than two ss is useless.

Careless hopeless relentless

Root words ending in ‘e’. Remember to drop the ‘e’ when

adding ‘ing’!
Take + ing = taking make + ing = making

-ful is always a three-letter word - unless it's used as a word on

its own:
Someone who's full of care is careful.

Mindful successful hopeful regretful

Prefixes

 A prefix is a group of letters which you can

add to the beginning of a root word to
change the meaning of the word. 

 e.g. mis + fortune = misfortune

Prefix meanings:
Every prefix has a meaning, for example:
The prefix 'un' means 'not'
The root word 'clear' means 'bright', 'free from
difficulty'
prefixes

 Activity 1:

 In pairs write down as many prefixes as you

can think of.

 You have 5 minutes!

 Extra points if you can also write down the

meaning of the prefix!
Prefixes with examples

Prefixes Examples
Dis-de- Dislike dehydrate
Mis- Mistake
Ex- Exterminate
In- Infection
Pro- Proactive
Non Nonsense, non-stop,
non-fiction
Overflow
Over-
 Prefixes

Generally when you add a prefix to a root word the spelling of

the prefix and the root words stays the same.

(Think of mobile phone tariffs, you can choose to add ‘bolt ons’ to your contract to suit a purpose)
prefixes... Common errors

When the prefix 'all' is added to a root word the final 'l' of
'all' is dropped.
all + together = altogether
all + ways = always

dis – only has one ‘s’ when being used at the start of a
word:

Dis+ appear + disappear dis + respect = disrespect

Mix it up!

You can also add a prefix to a word which

already has a suffix added to it.
How many words can you
make?
Answer
Create your own word map

Choose a root word from the list below and

create a word map adding suffixes and
prefixes.

 spect – use

 late act
Word maps
To sum up

 A root word is...

 A suffix is...
For example:

 Identify the prefix in the word below:

Antibacteria

 Is it ‘full’ or ‘ful’ and the end of a word?